The reduction of socio-economic inequalities in school outcomes was a major priority of the Coalition Government in England from 2010-15. In this paper we examine the Coalition's policies and spending, including an analysis of the distributional effect of its pupil premium policy. We also look at trends in outcomes up to 2014. We find that…

In a recent paper, Reardon found that the relationship between family income and children's academic achievement grew substantially stronger in the 1980s and 1990s in the United States. We provide an international context for these results by examining the income-achievement association in 19 other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and…

The impact of socio-economic background on mathematics performance in England can be seen from the most to least disadvantaged. As socio-economic background of pupils increases, so does average mathematics performance; the gap between the most and least disadvantaged is equivalent to over three years' of schooling. However, many factors other than…

This paper considers the impact of the Beacon schools initiative on the social and academic characteristics of secondary schools in England. The Beacon schools programme ran from 1998 to 2004 and epitomised the (then) Labour government's focus on school improvement through diversity, collaboration and partnership. This paper looks at variation in…

This paper argues that the standards agenda works in opposition to the inclusion agenda despite government rhetoric, which suggests that both agendas are complementary. The paper emphasises the need to embrace a broader understanding of what constitutes "achievement" in order to enable all learners to experience success. In developing…

This article argues that contradictory forces affect teachers' work in the neo-liberal school system in England, with a diversity of governance models alongside increasingly dominant orthodoxies of what constitutes 'effective practice and leadership'. School reforms in England have focused on increasing overall attainment and on closing the…

This article, written by three research-active teachers and their academic partner, registers concerns with the ways the so-called "achievement gap" is portrayed in policy announcements in England. It charts a challenge to the current view that it is the task of urban nursery and primary schools to train children to be school-ready. It…

As research today is often required to validate innovative aspects of education, David Sobel's analysis of the SEER report makes quantitative sense of nature education and its ability to improve learning. Test scores increase, attendance surges, language arts assessments show richer self-expression, speaking skills gain a community cause, math…

The Mathematics Mastery programme is a whole-school approach to teaching mathematics that aims to raise attainment for all pupils and close the attainment gap between pupils from low income families and their peers. The programme aims to deepen pupils' conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts. This summary is based on two randomised…

The Mathematics Mastery programme is a whole-school approach to teaching mathematics that aims to raise attainment for all pupils and close the attainment gap between pupils from low income families and their peers. The programme aims to deepen pupils' understanding of key mathematical concepts. This evaluation assessed the impact of Mathematics…

There are long-standing achievement gaps in England associated with socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity and gender, but relatively little research has evaluated interactions between these variables or explored school effects on such gaps. This paper analyses the national test results at age 7 and age 11 of 2,836 pupils attending 68 mainstream…

The Mathematics Mastery programme is a whole-school approach to teaching mathematics that aims to raise attainment for all pupils and close the attainment gap between pupils from low income families and their peers. The programme aims to deepen pupils' conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts. This clustered Randomised Controlled…

The "achievement gap"--the term typically used to refer to differences in pupil attainment associated with social class, ethnicity and gender--remains an enduring obstacle to government goals of creating a socially just society. This article explores the nature of the achievement gap and some of the mechanisms that serve to perpetuate…

Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and illustrating with examples from the English system, the paper addresses the hidden racist dimension to contemporary education reforms and argues that this is a predictable and recurrent theme at times of economic crisis. Derrick Bell's concept of "interest-convergence" argues that moments of…

The aims of this working paper were to investigate whether taking part in out of school activities during primary school is linked with end of primary school attainment and social, emotional and behavioural outcomes, for all children and specifically for children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The analysis is based on the Millennium…